When I first joined Twitter I had no idea how it would change my life. Honestly I think I signed up for Twitter and did nothing with it until I came to my second Inman Conference in 2009 – Real Estate Connect (this was before I worked for Inman). I saw a presentation by Nicole and Reggie Nicolay and walked away saying ‘I GET IT!’ Literally, I felt like one of those cartoon characters with a light bulb over my head!
To be honest, this is one of the reasons I whole-heartedly believe that coming to Real Estate Connect will make you more money – because all it takes is that one great idea – that one ‘a-ha’ moment that makes it all worth it!!
If you’re not a fan of Twitter, I understand. It’s not for everyone and that’s okay.
I can only account for my experiences. Twitter has served as a an incredibly powerful tool in three specific areas:
1. Networking. Through Twitter I’ve had the pleasure of building trusted relationships with a wide variety of individuals, most of whom I never would have been met otherwise. These connections constantly ‘retweet’ our information to their followers and are outspoken about how much they enjoy our news and the information we provide. It’s that word-of-mouth advertising that is priceless!
- Real Estate Idea: As a real estate agent, what if you tweeted out great local content, community info, little known facts about your area, real estate news and market reports for your community? You are probably sending that type of stuff out anyways via postcards or email – right? Why not take that same info and turn it into 20 different tweets?
2. Business. First off, I found my job with Inman News on Twitter! Since I came on board at Inman News, we have doubled our Twitter audience. There is a huge, untapped audience on Twitter. These are people that may not be in your email database, but people on Twitter are people who have clicked a button and said “YES I want to hear from your!” These followers are some of our most loyal fans.
- Real Estate Idea: Do a search on Twitter: Type in: “______ Realtor” (fill in the blank to whatever city you serve – i.e. New York City Realtor) – see who is looking for a Realtor in that area and add them as a follower! Also, don’t be shy about inviting people to follow you on Twitter. Download your database into a .CSV file and then upload it to Twitter. You can then choose who you’d like to send a Twitter invite to. The more people you follow, the more will follow you!
3. Exposure: Twitter has allowed me to raise Inman News’ profile and brand in a significant way. Our ideas and news are distributed to a much broader audience than traditional marketing and the only cost is time. As a real estate agent, the exposure you could receive by being on Twitter is enormous!
- Real Estate Idea: Make sure you ask people to follow you on Twitter. Add the link to your email signature, any print materials, your listing flyers, postcards, the home page of your website – anywhere where someone may want to contact you!
My catalyst for writing this short post is the achievement of a milestone of sorts – Inman News’ 12,000th follower. The means that over twelve thousand people are seeing what I tweet on a daily basis. The reach of those followers is in the millions and that is why the network effect of Twitter is so powerful.
Here are a few recent blog posts that talk about Twitter and Social Media – if you missed them, check them out:
- 5 Ways Realtors Can Use Technology to Save Time and Money
- 5 Ways Build Your Personal Brand the Right Way
- How to Measure Your Social Media Strategy and Success
How do you use Twitter for your business? Would love your thoughts, leave me a comment below!
Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
